Monday, March 23, 2015

Iranian military involvement in Iraq denied by some, decried by others

As we noted last night, CIA Director John Brennan appeared on Fox News Sunday (link is video and text), "During the wide-ranging interview, Brennan said that Iran and the
Islamic State are equal in the threat they pose to the United States." AP notes this morning, "The comments by CIA Director John Brennan on Fox News Sunday are among
the strongest yet voiced by American officials about the involvement of
shadowy Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in the war against the extremist
group."

Brennan may have made the strongest comments from any US official but his comments followed those of others in Iraq and out of Iraq in recent days. The objection to these forces has grown so strong -- especially as the reports of human rights abuses (War Crimes) taking place have grown -- that the Council of Ministers issued a statement denying any Iranians are in Iraq. Rudaw reports, "Iraq’s Council of Ministers on Monday denied there were any foreign
combat forces in the country, reacting to reports that Iranian forces
have been fighting alongside the Iraqi Army in the war with ISIS."

The denial was in response to statements made on Sunday by a Kurdish MP. Rudaw reports:

At least 30,000 Iranian soldiers and military experts are in
Iraq and involved in the fight against ISIS, a Kurdish lawmaker in the
Iraqi parliament said Sunday, calling it a “threat to Iraq’s
sovereignty.”“At least 30,000 soldiers and military experts from the Islamic
Republic of Iran are fighting ISIS militants in Iraq,” Shakhawan
Abdullah, head of the parliamentary security and defense committee, told
Rudaw.

Their denial indicates that either the Council of Ministers is composed of a pack of liars or else they're not in touch with their colleague who serves as the Minister of Transportation.

AFP spoke with that minister yesterday, Hadi al-Ameri, who is currently serving in the (illegal) capacity of "commander of the Badr militia" and al-Ameri couldn't stop singing the praises of Iranian Qassem Soleimani (identified by the US government as a terrorist) who is there, in Iraq, "whenever we need him," according to al-Ameri. AFP notes:Soleimani has advised Iraqi forces in multiple operations against
ISIS, which led a major offensive last June that overran large areas
north and west of Baghdad.In doing so, he and other Iranian advisers provide the kind of forward support during operations that U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to authorize American forces to undertake.

The
Obama administration, focused on completing a nuclear deal with Iran
and eager to minimize direct U.S. involvement in the latest Iraq war,
has played down the militia menace. While not supporting the attack on
Tikrit with airstrikes, senior officials have characterized it as a
positive development. Such statements suppose that a force including
commanders and units on the State Department’s global terrorism list and
steered by an Iranian general who previously directed attacks on U.S.
troops will somehow advance the aim of reconstructing a multiethnic
Iraq.

In fact, a new report from
Human Rights Watch documents how Shiite militias have pursued a brutal
scorched-earth policy in areas already liberated from the Islamic State.
After U.S. airstrikes drove Islamic State forces out of the town of Amerli,
in northeastern Iraq, late last summer, the militias went on a
sectarian rampage, burning and bulldozing thousands of homes and other
buildings in dozens of Sunni villages. The intent was to violently alter
the demography of once ethnically diverse areas so that Shiites could
dominate them.

On the topic of human rights abuses (War Crimes), we'll note this Tweet:

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.